Google and NBC Together In Ad Deal

Google and NBC announced  a multi-year advertising partnership today, just days after reports suggested that the Department of Justice is considering blocking Google's search agreement with Yahoo.

Under the NBC deal, which sounds broad in scope, the companies agreed to work together to develop "more effective advertising metrics" to attract new ad partners to NBC Universal and to incorporate self-service features for advertisers through Google TV Ads.

NBC will make inventory from a handful of cable networks available -- including Sci Fi, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, Sleuth and Chiller -- as well as inventory from local markets.

While Google TV has widely been dismissed as a non-starter, there were signs that something big was coming -- a couple weeks ago, a Google exec hinted that there was a significant deal in the works that would expand Google's reach.